I should have known this morning when I woke up with massive cramps that it was already time to call it a day. Instead I got up, helped Julien with his resume and worked on some business files.

By noon Deirdre and I were putting ourselves together so she could go downtown with me while I got my hair done. I was way excited because I was beyond overdue for a “trim” which ended being a major whacking. I left the salon feeling lighter, cooler, and oh-so pretty. Deirdre and I decided we would stop by Starbuck’s for an iced tea and a snack. We blared the music that the guys make fun of us for blaring and sang along at the top of our lungs happily lost in our own little world.

I swear, if I had had the money we would have just left for the coast for the night, stayed in a cute hotel, had breakfast and come home in the morning.

So there I am wishing I wasn’t “just” Deirdre’s mom and that I was about XX lbs LIGHTER and 20 years younger. Really. I was barreling down the highway in my big ol’ “mom with kids” screaming Suburban heading west as far as I was willing to go without wasting too much gas or more time than I probably should. We drove to the outskirts of town and turned around and came back. All the while I was dreaming of summers in the backyard at my grandparents house, music on the radio, and at least 2 or 3 girls squealing, barefoot, swinging on the porch swing.

Deirdre was telling me about her friend who spends summers on the rodeo circuit with her dad and all the cute cowboys that were hitting on her now. I smiled and told Deirdre how I always seemed to have too big a weak spot for those cowboys and that the ones you always fall for are the biggest heartbreakers. How’d I put it? Ahh, yes, that they are nice to look, sometimes they are fun to touch – but never, NEVER let them go to your heart, girlfriend.

I laughed and told her how her daddy knows about my weak spot and asked if I’d still have him even though he wasn’t one of *those* cowboys. Meaning, boots, hat, and one of those asses that make you shiver when you see them in a pair of jeans. My man is a sort of cross between mountain man and cowboy. He had horses, knows his way around them and knows how to hunt through some very rural and scary mountain parts with a gun and a pack of dogs. After all, he killed his first bear at the age of twelve and it wasn’t a cub by any stretch.

Deirdre smiled and giggled. The kind of giggle that means she gets me and isn’t thinking of me as “ugh, just my mom” for that moment. It was nice.

But, nice wasn’t about to last… because around here nice never does.

I came home to find Julien seeming more wired than usual. S.O. was at my desk trying to get my computer to turn on. Okay, power surges and bullshit are nothing I am unfamiliar with in this oh-so wonderful energy sucking state we live in. As S.O. went out to check the electrical panel (on a house that is barely 4 years old, mind you!) our son let it slip that we had gotten a letter in the mail from city code enforcement.

Code enforcement.

For what?!?!?!?

Oh… because I had a couch sitting in my driveway on Monday when they happened to bring their sorry asses by – because a friend was coming to pick it up.

AND… wait for it…

My patio.

MY PATIO in the REAR OF MY HOUSE. My professionally constructed (by my DAD a BUILDER with a CONTRACTOR’S LICENSE!!!!) outdoor kitchen and patio – why? Oh… because even though it is under 100 Sqft. in this money fucking grubbing economy these cocksuckers are looking for every fucking dime they can get their stupid hands on. We have an existing patio and my dad added on to it. So now they want it permitted. My dad is calling some friends downtown. Thankfully.

It’s fixable, but it’s a royal pain in the ass.

In the meantime, my husband did a quick search on our property and found out that the same floor plan as ours just sold for $80,000.00 LESS than what we owe on our house. After all the modification drama… we were only maybe $20k in the hole… so in that time values have dropped again. Thankfully, there isn’t much we can do except continue to make our house payment and see what happens in the future. Still, S.O. isn’t happy.

Back to the permit bullshit… yeah, well, we have 2 bantam hens in our backyard that are also against code because they are considered livestock even though they aren’t full-size chickens and are bred for pets and show. Which means I am going to have to hide them out like illegal refugees or something.

It’s just more than I want to deal with and I’d just about kill for a couple of months of peace and quiet. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t mean a two month VACATION – I just mean two months were nothing dramatic happens. Where we work and pay bills and raise kids and just live like normal people. That’s all I’m asking for and at this stage in my life – that can’t be asking for THAT much, RIGHT?